Park-204 - CassieH- The Lord of the Rings Return of the King

Power Can Be Held In The Smallest Of Things

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
By: J. R. R. Tolkien

About The Author
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on jauary 3, 1892 in Bloemfontem, Orange Free State. He bagan wirtting the opening chapters of The Lord of the Rings in the1930's. All three books were published seperarlty between the years of 1954 and 1955. j. R. R. Tolkien died on september 2, 1973 of pneumonia.

Summary

Return of the king is the third and last book of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It starts off with Gandalf and Pippin riding to Gondor to warn them of the impeding war that is apon them. They tell the Steward of Gondor (Denethor) what is coming and Pippin plegdes himself to him for the loss of his son (Boromir) who died defending him in the first book. Aregon, Gimli, and Legolas leave the Rohan army to follow the path of the dead. Merry and Eowyn, who were told not to come to the war, secretly do. Faramir (Denethor's youngest son) is sent to the outer rims of the Gondor city which is over run with orcs on a suicide mission to recover it. He returns very badly wounded and Denethor tries to kill them both by burning them alive. Pippin gets Gandalf to stop him but it is to late to save Denethor and he dies. Just as the City is about to be over runs with orcs, the Rohan army shows up and kicks some orc butt. Theoden is attacked by the Lord of the Nazgul. Eowyn, with the help of Merry, defeats the lord but Theoden dies. About half way through the battle Aragorn arrives with an army of the dead who can not be put to rest until they pay off they debt due to the king of Gondor. They defeat the army of Mordor and Aragorn sets the army free. He then devises a plan to attack Mordor in order to create a diversion for Frodo and Sam. They march right up to the gate were they are met by Mordor and all its vengeance.

Mean while, Sam returns to Minas Ithil to find Frodo and rescue him from the orcs who have him captive. They then continue there long journey into Mordor. There is no food or water anywhere to be found in Mordor and they have little supplies so they are both extremley weak and beginning to lose hope. they are almost discovered when they are mistaken for orcs and forced to march but they narrowly escape. Sam ends up have to carry Frodo because he is too weak from famine and the burden of baring the power of the ring to walk. When they are almost to the top of Mount Doom they are met by Gollum. Sam is forced to fight Gollum off so that Frodo and make it to the top and destroy the ring. Frodo finally makes it to the top and he is suddenly taken over by the rings power. He refuses to destroy it and almost gets away but Gollum comes out of now where and attacks him for it. Gollum wins by biting Frodos finger off, but he falls into the pit of lava and is destroyed along with the ring. Without the power of the ring, Sauron dies and Mordor falls to ruins. Gandalf takes three giant eagles to the top of Mount Doom and saves Frodo and Sam from the collapsing mountain.
They return to Minas Tirith and Aragorn is crowned king of Gondor. They then go back to Rohan and have a funeral feist for Theoden. After, they travel to Rivendell (an elvan city) and Frodo is reunited with his uncle Bilbo. From there the Hobbits travel alone back to the Shire. When they arrive home they find that the Shire has been over run by large men led by a man named Sharkey. They gather their Hobbit Brethren and they over throw the men in a battle. When they find Sharkey they also find Saruman, a fallen wizard, who is then killed at the hands of his own servent. Sam gets married to his long time crush and the Shire is rebuilt. As the years pass Frodo gets weaker and he decides to take the last boat across the sea to where the elves go when they do not want to be on earth any longer. Gandalf and his uncle Bilbo go as well. The others stay behind, to live out their lives in the Shire.

Why is this an outstanding book and would I recommend it?

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King is an outstanding book because it is filled with suspence, drama, action, thrill, and even a little bit of romance. Basically all the makings of a good book. The words that fill this book's pages are full of passion and meaning. J. R. R. Tolkein used so much detail and discription that you could picture every thing that was happening. During the battle scences I could almost see everything that was going on as if I myself was in the book, like I was one of the characters witnessing these events first hand. When reading this book I found that it was nearly impossible to put down. Its definatly a page turner. I would definatly recommend this book to any one who asked. It may seem long but once you start reading you will come to find that it actually goes by extremly fast. Also, if you have seen the movies and think that the're the same so why should I read it, you are mistaken. I thought this too but trust me, they are very different from one another and you will not regret reading this book. I would recommend, however, that you read the first two of this trilogy first.